OpinionWorld Cup 2022: Mixu Paatelainen must motivate his side after disappointing draw against Cambodia
- Hong Kong to face Asian giants Iran next week in 2022 World Cup qualifiers
- A convincing performance against the Asia’s number one team is required to regain confidence
Four years ago, Hong Kong kicked off the 2018 World Cup qualifiers with a bang, thrashing visitors Bhutan 7-0 at Mong Kok Stadium.
On Thursday night in Phnom Penh, we drew with Cambodia 1-1 in our opening match of the qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.
The result should not be considered too disappointing considering it was an away game, but it was the performance of the Hong Kong team that worries most.
Against a team featuring mostly under-23 players, as Cambodia prepare for their more important South East Asian Games later in the year, Hong Kong showed little ability to take the game to their young hosts and were often comfortably kept at bay against the world’s No 170 side, especially in the second half when Cambodia pressed hard for what would have been a shock winner.
Of course, it would be unfair to compare Cambodia with Bhutan, who were virtually a bunch of amateurs, but the Southeast Asian nation are comfortably the lowest ranked team in the group, which also features three Middle East powers – Iran, Iraq and Bahrain.